13 Comments

Yeah, umm.. how does changing the format to awards “news” make it any less of an awards show?

ReelBusy • on Jan 7, 2008 2:53 pm

The WGA should KO any broadcast.

DA in LA • on Jan 7, 2008 2:53 pm

What did NBC think was going to happen? Get your heads out of your asses and come back to the table and negotiate like BUSINESSMEN.

Your boy Counter sold you false promises. Wake up.

MildApplause • on Jan 7, 2008 3:14 pm

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OMG…this just keeps getting better and better!

You couldn’t write stuff this good!

Well, actually, maybe some people could, but they’d get screwed out of the internet residuals and dvd sales.

Jack • on Jan 7, 2008 3:59 pm

Oh my God are you kidding me? What the hell does the WGA want? It’s bad enough that the show was cancelled. But now they are trying to end the news coverage also? WTF???!!!! SHUT UP ALREADY!!!!!!

Fed Up • on Jan 7, 2008 4:10 pm

W(hose) G(lobes) A(re) they anyway? It is unbelievable that NBC would care, much less ask, what the WGA thinks of NBC programming several hours of pre-packaged Globes related material or news coverage of parties organized by other entities to recognize the Golden Globes honors bestowed on all manner of Hollywood creative talent. How can the WGA picket that programming if anyone even believed they had the right to picket same?

Is NBC now in the business of inflating the influence of the WGA? I’d say the WGA spokespeople (and majority of members) have done a fine effort of inflating their importance all on their own. After all, life will go on happily without most of the philospohically and intellectually bankrupt prose these pseudo-scribes deliver to the world community.

second that • on Jan 7, 2008 4:14 pm

Really, WGA, who do you think you are?
Looking like you are just a bully and saying : I don’t get what I want, so noone can work, have fun, or recognized for the work well done. wow.

question • on Jan 7, 2008 7:42 pm

Isn’t it true that as a “news” show they will have additional “fair use” rights regarding what clips, etc. they can show?

Unemployed • on Jan 7, 2008 8:14 pm

I agree “second that”…
Not that the AMPTP is innocent, but in honor of what happened with the Globes, the award for Biggest Baby goes to… the WGA.

smart people • on Jan 7, 2008 9:45 pm

Uh, Fed Up, NBC didn’t “ask” the WGA for anything. They can plan whatever they want, but if the WGA pickets, nobody will attend, which makes it difficult to televise. Empty rooms and one-sided interviews don’t come across on televsion. The WGA has the “right” to picket whatever it chooses, this is America, a free country (as frightening a concept as that may be).

And the parties are being cancelled by the entities throwing them, since having a party to celebrate an awards show that’s essentially being cancelled seems rather pointless and as Nikki says, “undignified.”

NCB isn’t asking the WGA what they think because they CARE how the WGA feels….they’re asking because NBC needs the stars to show up or they have NO show. and the stars won’t show up if the writers are picketing the show.

the WGA doesn’t have an inflated sense of self, trust me. this strike isn’t for the top notch writers who are already able to wrangle the best deal possible and demand residuals of any kind they want. this is for the middle of the road folks who don’t have that kind of bargaining power on their own. think about it– when SAG goes to make this deal, and the DGA — they aren’t fighting this fight for the people who have so much power they can make or break a project. they are doing it for the people who probably won’t be able to stay in this business and keep writing and acting during the downtimes without residuals. and pretty soon there won’t be anyone residuals from TV because everyone will be watching online. it isn’t anything but common sense that the creatives- without whom we wouldn’t have this content- deserve the same residual structure for the internet as they enjoy for TV/film.

I am glad that the creatives are sticking together. long before this became the money-making industry that cranks out shoot-by-the-numbers hits, it was a collaborative, artistic process. SAG’s unity with their brothers and sisters at the WGA will be so important in the long run.

because there are so many people who want to work in this business and are willing to do so for nothing, the producers et al have a very real sense that they can replace anyone at the drop of a hat. the only people they have any fear– oops, we call it “respect”– of are the faces the public knows- the stars.

it is exactly because of this attitude that unions are so important. if we didn’t have unions, there would be rampant wide-spread abuse of the creative talent (as there was in the past). so it may look like a bunch of whining to anyone who hasn’t walked in these shoes, and i get that it sucks because the strike is putting people out of work currently (myself included), but no matter how it looks on the surface, these things were put into place for GOOD reason and we need to remember the history and evolution of the unions in Hollywood.

GO UA! i can’t wait to see what comes out of that studio.

CCH • on Jan 8, 2008 8:31 pm

What it comes down to in this strike is that the Studio Execs are use to bullying Writers, Directors, Actors, basically all of Hollywood, and getting their way. Now, the WGA isn’t backing down and the Studio Execs just can’t handle it.